Recent bed bug press from all over Canada

The press in Canada is aflutter with the current bed bug media frenzy.

This CBC story picks up the findings of the 2010 Comprehensive Global Bed Bug Study done by the University of Kentucky and the National Pest Management Association (NPMA).

CBC Radio’s The Current features a story this week about how we’re “on the threshold of a global bed bug pandemic.”

One gripe: the show’s host Jim Brown notes,

Bed bugs are tiny things, about the size of an apple seed or, as Mark Amery [manager of Vancouver Bed Bug Control] said, a fleck of pepper.

This is misleading. Yes, adult bed bugs are often said to be the size of an apple seed. However, while nymphs are similar in size to “a fleck of pepper” (1 mm or 1/32 inch long), first instar nymphs are translucent before their first blood meal, and bright red after that. To my eyes, bed bugs never look like flecks of pepper.

Amery also compares the appearance of bed bugs on the baseboards with “sprinkled pepper” which is misleading to those new to bed bugs.

Joe Fiorito is also collecting stories of people who’ve had bed bugs in Toronto and the GTA, with the aim of getting officials to take action. If you’re a GTA bedbugger, please read this article and send him your bed bug tale of woe.

If you need something a bit more relaxing, check out Ottawa’s The Gallop with their song “My Bed Bugs Fight”, courtesy of CBC Radio. (We can only assume The Gallop has some bed bug experience, given that their eponymous EP released in June 2010 has tracks entitled “My Bed Bugs Fight” and “Get Me to Sleep”.)

Finally, shame on the usually highly-respected CBC for its bed bug faux pas on this poll today. As I noted in a comment on the site (which has not yet appeared as of this writing), the image shown under the headline “Bedbugs: Have you ever dealt with them?” is not a bed bug.

Here’s the article with the image as it appears as of Thursday at 1:30 pm EST (it’s been up for hours):

Oh dear.

Speaking of misleading information about bed bugs… Does anyone see a need for more bed bug education?

I have no doubt some of my entomologist friends will be writing in shortly to tell me what exactly that bug is.

However, I can tell you without a doubt, it is not Mr. Cimex Lectularius, star of stage, screen, fiction, and song (and now appearing everywhere, unfortunately).

Update (8/7):

On Friday 8/6, after the CBC had the wrong bug image up for more than 24 hours, the error was corrected. You can now see a bed bug here.

The CBC’s Associate Producer of Social Media posted this comment on Friday morning:

My name’s Adrian Ma, and I’m an associate producer at CBC News.ca. I know a few users have said the insect in the photo above is not a bedbug. According to the photo service we use it is, but we’re going to look into it. It’s not our intention to mislead, so thanks for bringing this to our attention.

And an hour later, Ma wrote,

We contacted Sean Rollo, an entomologist and pest control expert, and he confirmed that the insect in the original image was not a bedbug. We’ve contacted the image service to let them know. Thank you readers for spotting the error!!

CBC News.ca is currently arranging a Q & A with pest experts to take your questions about bedbugs, so please check back later for more information.

A number of us promptly posted comments alerting the CBC to this error — I did so, and also sent the CBC webmaster feedback using the “send feedback” link, only hours after the image was posted, so while I am glad the CBC made the correction, it does seem like this took a little too long to correct.

Unfortunately a lot of photo services have mistagged photos. However, the CBC has done bed bug stories in the past and they should have a photo of a bed bug on file somewhere.

I understand why the CBC would want a known expert such as Sean Rollo to confirm their error, but frankly, there are university fact sheets which can be easily Googled in case such a question arises.

The problem lies so much with the.media. They don’t do their homework to learn about bed bugs or the people they’re interviewing don’t help them out and try to educate. If you only show adult bed bugs you should explain that and also keep immatures on hand to explain size differences. Bed bugs really don’t look like appleseeds. This refers to the adult, the 6th instar bug: there are 5 nymphal instars.

So true; just last week i was showing a reporter and photog some bed bug eggs and “Oh there too small to show” was there response. This is exactly what you need to show so people can understand what to look for.

Yes, saw coverage and the reporter asked if the bugs were bed bugs. Adults were in the vial. They should be showing eggs and nymphs to the audience and then viewers will get to understand small sized insects and what they should really be looking for.

On Friday 8/6, after the CBC had the wrong bug image up for more than 24 hours, the error was corrected. You can now see a bed bug here.

The CBC’s Associate Producer of Social Media posted this comment on Friday morning:

My name’s Adrian Ma, and I’m an associate producer at CBC News.ca. I know a few users have said the insect in the photo above is not a bedbug. According to the photo service we use it is, but we’re going to look into it. It’s not our intention to mislead, so thanks for bringing this to our attention.

And an hour later, Ma wrote,

We contacted Sean Rollo, an entomologist and pest control expert, and he confirmed that the insect in the original image was not a bedbug. We’ve contacted the image service to let them know. Thank you readers for spotting the error!!

CBC News.ca is currently arranging a Q & A with pest experts to take your questions about bedbugs, so please check back later for more information.

A number of us promptly posted comments alerting the CBC to this error — I did so, and also sent the CBC webmaster feedback using the “send feedback” link, only hours after the image was posted, so while I am glad the CBC made the correction, it does seem like this took a little too long to correct.

Unfortunately a lot of photo services have mistagged photos. However, the CBC has done bed bug stories in the past and they should have a photo of a bed bug on file somewhere.

I understand why the CBC would want a known expert such as Sean Rollo to confirm their error, but frankly, there are university fact sheets which can be easily Googled in case such a question arises.